The Government wants to raise the civil penalty for water companies who pollute the environment from £250,000 to up to £250 million. The move comes as part of a push for water companies to invest more in preventing pollution and securing water supplies for future generations. Last year there were 62 serious pollution incidents by water companies – up from 44 in 2020. At present, if water companies fail to uphold the law or cause environmental harm, the Environment Agency can pursue both criminal and civil prosecutions as part of their enforcement regime. Whilst fines handed out by the courts through criminal prosecutions are unlimited, these can be a lengthy and costly process. Civil sanctions called Variable Monetary Penalties imposed directly by the EA rather than the courts can offer a quicker method of enforcement. VMPs can be issued for more serious offences, including when there is evidence of negligence or mismanagement or when there is an environmental impact. It’s claimed increasing the cap for fines up to £250 million will simplify and speed up the process of enforcement by allowing the EA to directly hand out penalties to water companies. Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena said: “I have been clear that if water companies don’t do what is expected, there will be consequences. Bigger financial penalties will act as a greater deterrent and push water companies to do more, and faster, when it comes to investing in infrastructure and improving the quality of our water.

“This 1,000-fold increase sends a clear signal that we want clean rivers and coastlines, and that the duty falls to the water companies to deliver – the polluter must pay.”

From the beginning of November VAT-registered companies will no longer be able to use their existing VAT online account to submit VAT returns. That’s the date that, by law, all VAT-registered businesses must sign up to Making Tax Digital and use compatible software to keep VAT records and file returns. MTD’s aim is to help businesses get their tax right first time by reducing errors, making it easier for them to manage their tax affairs by going digital, and consequently helping them to grow. More than 1.8 million businesses are already using the service, and more than 19 million returns have so far been submitted through MTD-compatible software. In less than one month, businesses who file their VAT returns on a quarterly and monthly basis will no longer be able to submit them using their existing VAT online account, unless HMRC has agreed they are exempt from MTD. If businesses do not file their VAT returns through MTD-compatible software, they may have to pay a penalty. Even if a business currently keeps digital records, they must check their software is MTD compatible and sign up for MTD before filing their next return. Richard Fuller MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Making Tax Digital can help businesses get their tax right first time, which cuts the administration burden and frees up time for them to get on with what matters most to them – growing their business. I encourage any VAT-registered businesses still to register for Making Tax Digital to get online and sign up.”

Amazon has published its UK SME Impact Report which highlights how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) selling on Amazon have created 250,000 jobs across the UK to date. Many small business owners have been able to adapt to recent challenges and thrive online for the first time. Over 15,000 UK SMEs selling on Amazon surpassed £100,000 in sales last year, and over 700 reached sales of £1 million or more for the first time. More than half of all physical product sales on the Amazon store in the UK are from independent selling partners, most of who are small and medium-sized businesses. More than 85,000 UK SMEs now sell on Amazon – up more than 25% year-on-year. These businesses reached hundreds of millions of customers around the globe in 2021 – more than half of UK-based sellers exported to another country. They also sold more than 950 million products on Amazon, up from 750 million the year before, which is equivalent to more than 1,750 products a minute on average. SMEs from across the UK are increasingly seeing success from selling on Amazon’s stores, supporting regional economies and communities. Many of these businesses are located outside of London – for example, North West England now has more than 12,000 sellers, up 35% compared to the year before; Wales has over 2,500 sellers, up around a third on the year before; and Scotland has around 4,000 sellers, up around 30% on 2020. Across major UK cities, SMEs based in Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow selling on Amazon recorded some of the highest average annual revenues, surpassing the average annual revenue of London-based sellers. Last year around 50,000 sellers in the UK used Amazon’s fast shipping and inventory management service, Fulfilment by Amazon, and grew their sales by 25% on average. Amazon Business, the professional procurement solution, helped tens of thousands of UK sellers reach more than five million businesses worldwide, selling around 20 million items across office supplies, hospitality, healthcare, maintenance products and IT goods, generating over £400 million in sales. Through the hundreds of tools and services Amazon offers, and programmes like Amazon Launchpad, Amazon provides small business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs with tools and opportunities to succeed. This extends beyond selling their products online, to include running delivery and logistics companies, using the cloud to launch and scale their businesses, creating voice apps, or publishing their own books. Amazon today also announces the launch of its upgraded Amazon Small Business Accelerator, which will serve the evolving needs of the UK’s thriving small business community, hosted on Amazon.co.uk as an accessible and free-to-use suite of resources for all startups, entrepreneurs and small or medium-sized businesses. Current and aspiring business leaders can now access more than 20 courses and 50+ videos of content on topics like how to build a business online, supercharging operations, growing sales and creating a social media presence, bringing the best in class from the country’s small business experts and Amazon leaders. “Supporting UK small businesses to fulfil their potential remains an essential part of what we do. Today we’re proud to launch our revamped Amazon Small Business Accelerator, which will help even more small businesses across the UK. Many people told us the Accelerator was the catalyst for them to start a new business during and since the pandemic, so we are excited to see how many more we can reach with new content, events and partners,” said John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “In addition, the SME Impact Report shows many small businesses are proving resilient, and thriving against a challenging backdrop, with continued sales growth at home and abroad by using Amazon’s world leading services to help them.” The new Amazon Small Business Accelerator also includes ‘Amazon Masterclasses’ to help people learn from the company’s senior leaders about decision making, innovation, customer obsession and more; and a range of new partners including Be the Business, Planet Mark, and The Federation of Small Businesses, who will deliver online content and specialist in-depth workshops and bootcamps. From September, Planet Mark and Amazon will host roundtables on how small businesses can improve their packaging, operational emissions and materials innovation; later this year, The Federation of Small Businesses and Amazon will run events focused on the protecting businesses from fraud, managing finances and fundraising processes. More than 600,000 businesses have accessed the Accelerator since it started more than two years ago, in partnership with Enterprise Nation, launched as a direct response to the impact of the pandemic on the startup and SME community, with the aim of helping more than 200,000 businesses of all sizes to start and grow online. Julian David, techUK CEO, said: “As we enter difficult economic waters ensuring the next generation of business leaders have the training, insight, and resources they need to innovate and thrive will be fundamental to protecting jobs and ensuring the UK can bounce back. The Amazon Small Business Accelerator is, therefore, an important and consequential initiative. techUK is proud to work with over 500 SMEs in our membership and thousands more across the tech sector, we will continue to back initiatives such as the Accelerator that can help them fulfil their full potential.” Steve Malkin, CEO of Planet Mark, said: “As well as helping SMEs grow and succeed, this exciting partnership enables us to help SMEs on their path to net zero, while educating them on the benefits of embedding sustainability into everyday business practices and how this can help drive performance. Planet Mark has helped hundreds of SMEs embrace sustainability and cut carbon, and now working with Amazon and partners we look forward to helping thousands more small businesses thrive while also making a difference in our fight against climate change.” Caroline Lavelle, Chief Commercial Officer, The Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It’s always good to see companies like Amazon play a role in supporting our smaller businesses to improve their online presence and reach. We hope that many of our members will find this useful.” Dominique Woolf, founder of The Woolf’s Kitchen, is one of the more than 85,000 UK SMEs selling products on Amazon. In June 2020, Dominique, a professionally-trained chef, created a range of sauces inspired by her Thai heritage and started selling to independent farm-shops and delis. Later that year she joined an Amazon Small Business Accelerator bootcamp which inspired her to start selling online. She said: “The bootcamps highlighted the true benefits of Amazon and ecommerce – they provided the fundamentals in how to grow a small business online, and then provided a load of free resources which I’ve been able to access regularly. The Accelerator

Today, organisations championing economic growth across the Midlands welcomed the announcement from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) that West Burton will host the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)’s pioneering prototype fusion power station. The announcement is a huge boost to the Midlands’ drive to attract inward investment and address regional disparities. The focus of local stakeholders on low-carbon energy generation as a route to tackle climate and energy crises, and create vital high-paid, high-skilled jobs across the Midlands, helped present West Burton site as an ideal choice. The choice of West Burton, the site of coal and gas power generation for decades, is seen as an iconic symbol of the pathway from fossil fuels to fusion power and a compelling catalyst for economic growth and social mobility. The decision follows Nottinghamshire County Council’s Fossil2Fusion campaign, supported by the Midlands Engine partnership and Energy Research Accelerator. West Burton was one of 15 sites which entered bids in early 2021 to host the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) project. It was chosen from an eventual shortlist of five after more than a year of detailed technical and socio-economic assessment. The STEP project aims to build on the UK’s status as a world-leader in fusion technology by creating a prototype plant, capable of net power output to the grid, by 2040. If successful, it could pave the way to commercial fusion plants producing safe, sustainable, low carbon energy for generations to come. Sir John Peace, Midlands Engine Chairman, said of the announcement: “The Midlands Engine partnership welcomes the Government and UKAEA’s decision to choose West Burton as the site for its STEP fusion prototype. In an area which has long suffered from underinvestment, the site stands to play a crucial role in boosting local and regional economic activity, job creation and productivity. The project is more than a power station –  it will require an ecosystem of innovation and development and will become a global focus for fusion power. This is an unrivalled opportunity to support our levelling up agenda by generating high quality jobs, building a first-class supply chain and further strengthening our regional skills base. “We look forward to working with the UKAEA to make the project a success, both in solving our energy challenges, and driving green growth across the Midlands and beyond.” Professor Martin Freer, Director of the Energy Research Accelerator said: “We welcome today’s announcement of the selection of West Burton as home for the UK’s first STEP plant. The site is part of ‘Megawatt Valley’ and has been crucial to the UK’s power generation industry for decades.” “Fusion has the potential to be transformative for the way we produce energy here in the UK. It could provide an almost limitless supply of safe, clean electricity and help with the toughest decarbonisation challenges by using heat to manufacture hydrogen and synthetic clean fuels – other areas where our region and ERA have expertise.  We look forward to building on our work with the UKAEA, bringing the region’s first-class skills and innovation capabilities to bear on this exciting project.” The West Burton site benefits from connections to nearby manufacturing and construction firms, as well as the world-renowned research capabilities of regional universities, supported by the Energy Research Accelerator. Part of the UKAEA’s selection process was to assess which site combined the ability to support the project’s delivery, with the potential for major socio-economic benefits. It is expected that local firms, clusters and R&D hubs will develop and benefit from an influx of activity, as they support the construction and operation of the site and welcome some of the world’s leading fusion experts and companies.